It’s Five Gold Rings day, the day when we all take joy in catching up because we all know the words, and because the music pauses just a bit to breathe, and because it’s something that sounds like a normal gift, something we can wrap. (Swans can get testy if you come at them with paper and tape.)
We’ve had family visiting for the last week from Canada and New Mexico. It’s been wonderful, but they all left for home yesterday, and the quiet is luxurious. My sofa is mine again.
“Joy, for me, always starts with small, everyday experiences and items.
“Drinking coffee. A hug from my spouse or child, petting the neighbor’s dog. These things give me life. I focus on these simple joys so that I can be better prepared to be joyful even as the shit hits the fan.”
I’ve been pondering lately the connection between Joy and Gratitude. I’m not sure I have landed on anything quite yet. But when I read your lovely entry today, I immediately thought of Gratitude as a practice.
I’m definitely thinking about this, in part, because of an episode of “Do By Friday” that I listed to recently (DBF is a weekly challenge podcast with Alex Cox and Merlin Mann). In this particular episode, the challenge was to say a simple, quiet, “Thank you ” in mundane (and not-so-mundane) moments.
It wasn’t a, “Thank you” directed to anyone in particular … certainly not specifically to the Christian concept of God or Christ. And it was perhaps most interesting to hear Merlin’s framing of when he found himself saying, “Thank you.” It was in moments where something happened through no particular cause – certainly not the result of his own effort. But in situations where one might assign an outcome to chance, or fate, but that sounds like higher stakes than most of the examples.
It was in the act of spontaneous Gratitude toward a fairly normal, everyday occurrence that I think I found myself reflecting the most. Examples like the ones you shared in this piece.
I’m not sure where this leaves me, but I do know I’m catching myself trying to whisper, “Thank you” more often than I was just a few weeks ago. And I do think I’m recognizing smaller moments of Joy more frequently as a result.
It’s Five Gold Rings day, the day when we all take joy in catching up because we all know the words, and because the music pauses just a bit to breathe, and because it’s something that sounds like a normal gift, something we can wrap. (Swans can get testy if you come at them with paper and tape.)
We’ve had family visiting for the last week from Canada and New Mexico. It’s been wonderful, but they all left for home yesterday, and the quiet is luxurious. My sofa is mine again.
Embrace the couch!
“Joy, for me, always starts with small, everyday experiences and items.
“Drinking coffee. A hug from my spouse or child, petting the neighbor’s dog. These things give me life. I focus on these simple joys so that I can be better prepared to be joyful even as the shit hits the fan.”
I’ve been pondering lately the connection between Joy and Gratitude. I’m not sure I have landed on anything quite yet. But when I read your lovely entry today, I immediately thought of Gratitude as a practice.
I’m definitely thinking about this, in part, because of an episode of “Do By Friday” that I listed to recently (DBF is a weekly challenge podcast with Alex Cox and Merlin Mann). In this particular episode, the challenge was to say a simple, quiet, “Thank you ” in mundane (and not-so-mundane) moments.
It wasn’t a, “Thank you” directed to anyone in particular … certainly not specifically to the Christian concept of God or Christ. And it was perhaps most interesting to hear Merlin’s framing of when he found himself saying, “Thank you.” It was in moments where something happened through no particular cause – certainly not the result of his own effort. But in situations where one might assign an outcome to chance, or fate, but that sounds like higher stakes than most of the examples.
It was in the act of spontaneous Gratitude toward a fairly normal, everyday occurrence that I think I found myself reflecting the most. Examples like the ones you shared in this piece.
I’m not sure where this leaves me, but I do know I’m catching myself trying to whisper, “Thank you” more often than I was just a few weeks ago. And I do think I’m recognizing smaller moments of Joy more frequently as a result.